Coventry Telegraph, 12 October 2022
Autumn Breaks – Boating to Bath
Tag Archive for: canal boat holiday
Western Mail (Cardiff), 12 October 2022
‘Autumn Breaks – Boating to Bath’
Choice magazine, 1 October 2022
‘A quintet of castles…by canal boat’ explores the top five castles to visit on a canal boat holiday in 2022
DownieLive Travels by Boat
Canadian Youtuber Michael Downie has made a series of films about the canals and canal boat holidays.
In the first episode, he sets off from our canal boat hire base at Goytre Wharf and travels along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.
In episode two, he leaves from our Acton Bridge base in Cheshire and navigates through the Anderton Boat Lift.
In the third episode, he sets off from our Trevor base in North Wales and travels across the UNESCO World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
In episode four he departs from our Sowerby Bridge base in West Yorkshire, and travels through the deepest lock in the country.
In the final episode, he travels through the Standedge Tunnel, the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel on the network.
You’ll find DownieLive Travels by Boat here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGcGMcj2dWM
Eccentric England, 22 September 2022
Elaine Wilson – of the award-winning Eccentric England blog – enjoyed an autumn narrowboat holiday press trip from Drifters’ canal boat hire base on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at Gailey https://eccentricengland.co.uk/home/canal-holiday-drifters/
Experience an October Half Term canal boat holiday
Narrowboats are like floating holiday cottages, with everything you need on board for a self-catering adventure afloat. All our boats equipped with essential home comforts, including central heating, hot water, TV, showers, flushing toilets, and most now have WiFi too.
October Half Term narrowboat hire prices start at £642 for a short break (three or four nights) on a boat for four people, £1,010 for a week.
A licence isn’t required to steer a canal boat and all our operators provide boat steering tuition as part of their holiday packages.
Here are Drifters’ top six canal boat holiday destinations for October Half Term 2022:
1. Explore the ancient abbey at Selby
On a week’s holiday from our base at Sowerby Bridge, narrow boat holiday-makers can cruise to along the Calder & Hebble and the Aire & Calder navigations to Selby. The journey there and back travels 96 miles, passes through 68 locks (34 each way) and takes around 40 hours. The route passes through Wakefield, Stanley Ferry, Castleford and Knottingley. Scenery ranges from leafy cuttings on the Calder & Hebble and farmland along the Aire, to industrial hinterland on the Aire & Calder. At Selby, you can moor up to explore the ancient Abbey and market. Selby also has a good choice of pubs and restaurants.
2. Boat along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal to Brecon
From our base at Goytre Wharf near Abergavenny, on a week’s break you can navigate through the wooded Usk Valley to Brecon. Situated in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Brecon offers theatre, cinema, cafes and restaurants. This historic town also offers easy access to the National Park, with walking routes, cycle hire and pony trekking. Along the way, boaters can stop off at Llanfoist to take the old tramway into the Black Mountains. Or visit the 13th century castle at Crickhowell. The journey there and back travels 51 miles, passing through 12 locks (six each way) and takes around 25 hours.
3. Glide along the Kennet & Avon Canal to Georgian Bath
On a mid-week break from our Devizes base in Wiltshire, you can travel to the World Heritage Status City of Bath and back. The journey to overnight moorings at Sydney Wharf travels nearly 20 miles along the Kennet & Avon Canal, and takes around 10 hours. From there, it’s a 15 minute walk to the centre of Bath. Along the way, you’ll travel across two magnificent aqueducts and pass through 10 locks. There’s a choice of canalside pubs to visit, including the Barge Inn at Seend and the Cross Guns at Avoncliff.
4. Cruise to Coventry to visit the Cathedral
From our narrowboat hire base at Braunston, it takes 12 hours to reach Coventry Basin, The route travels along 28 miles of mostly rural waterways and passes through just four locks. The journey takes boaters along sections of the North Oxford and Coventry canals. It passes a series of towns and villages with canalside pubs, including the Royal Oak at Hillmorton and the Greyhound Inn at Hawkesbury Junction.
5. Glide across the UNESCO World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
On a short break from our base at Trevor in North Wales, you can cruise along the Llangollen Canal to the beautiful Shropshire town of Ellesmere. Along the way, you’ll travel across the UNESCO World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. This enormous structure carries the canal 38 metres high above the Dee Valley, supported by 19 vast stone pillars. Once in Ellesmere, you can moor up and spend time exploring the Mere with its Victorian gardens, woodland paths and historic castle. The journey to Ellesmere and back takes around 14 hours and passes through four locks (two each way).
6. Navigate to Market Drayton, home of the gingerbread man
On a week’s break from our base on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal at Gailey, you can travel to the historic market town of Market Drayton. The route takes you through the pretty village of Brewood with a choice of pubs. It also passes Belvide Reservoir and through a series of deep wooded cuttings. At Market Drayton there’s a Wednesday market and choice of places to eat, many offering the town’s famous gingerbread. References to people making gingerbread in Market Drayton date back to the late 1700’s. The journey to Market Drayton and back cruises 68 miles, passes through 14 locks and takes around 30 hours.
Top 8 Halloween canal boat holiday destinations
With spooky tunnels, misty towpaths, bats, toads, spiders and ghosts galore, Britain’s 200-year old canal network provides the perfect backdrop for a haunting Halloween.
Drifters’ prices for boats for up to four people for a week over Halloween start at £775.
Here’s a guide to our spookiest destinations for Halloween 2022:
1. Beware the Monkey Man at Norbury
The Shropshire Union Canal is said to be Britain’s most haunted canal with five ghosts along its length, including the terrifying ‘Monkey Man’ at Bridge 39 near Norbury. This hideous black, shaggy coated being is believed to be the ghost of a boatman drowned there in the 19th century. Narrowboat holiday-makers can reach Norbury from our narrowboat hire base on the Shropshire Union Canal at Brewood in around four and a half hours. The journey travels 10 miles and passes through one lock.
2. Get spooked at Blisworth Tunnel
On the Grand Union Canal at Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire, the Blisworth Tunnel has spooked a number of boaters over the years. At 2,795 metres long, it’s one of the longest on the canal system. When construction began in 1793, teams of navvies worked with picks and shovels for three years until they hit quicksand and the tunnel collapsed, killing 14 men. A new route for the tunnel was found, and it finally opened on 25 March 1805. Over the years, a number of boaters travelling through the tunnel have reported seeing lights and a second route emerging. But the tunnel runs straight through the hill so people must have seen the spot where the first tunnel would have intersected with the main canal tunnel. Perhaps the ghostly navvies are still working there…? The Blisworth Tunnel is less than an hour away from our base at Braunston on the Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire, it takes around eight hours to reach the Blisworth Tunnel. The route travels 18 miles and passes through 13 locks.
3. Look out for an eerie figure Aqueduct Apparition
The Llangollen Canal in Wrexham is haunted by an eerie figure that can sometimes be seen on moonlit nights, gliding along the towpath on the UNESCO World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. From our base at Whitchurch on the Llangollen Canal it takes around 14 cruising hours, travelling 25 miles and passing through four locks to reach the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in time for Halloween.
4. Prepare for a visit from the Viscount – the canalside George Inn at Bathampton is said to be haunted by the ghost of Viscount John Baptiste Du Barre, who was mortally wounded in the last legal duel fought in Britain. From Drifters’ narrowboat hire base on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Devizes, it takes around nine hours to reach the George Inn at Bathampton, cruising 17 miles of the Kennet & Avon Canal and passing through eight locks.
5. Watch out for a shrieking boggart at Harecastle Tunnel
The Trent & Mersey Canal’s Harecastle Tunnel at Kidsgrove is said to be home to a shrieking boggart – the ghost of Kit Crewbucket who was murdered and his headless corpse was dumped in the canal. Harecastle Tunnel is a 12-hour cruise away from Drifters’ base at Stoke on Trent. The journey travels 22 miles of the Trent & Mersey Canal, and passes through 18 locks.
6. Witness some ghostly goings-on at The Navigation Inn
The Navigation Inn on the Calder & Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge dates back to the 15th century, and served travellers along the old salt road from Chester to York long before the canal was built. According to the landlord, there’s plenty of supernatural activity in this ancient building, including noises in the cellar, clocks that mysteriously stop and spirits that appear in the kitchen. The Navigation Inn is very close to our canal boat hire base at Sowerby Bridge.
7. Beware the blood stained steps at Brindley Bank
The Trent & Mersey Canal at Brindley Bank Aqueduct in Staffordshire, is said to be haunted by Christina Collins. Christina was murdered there on 17 June 1839 and her body was flung into the canal. Three boatmen were convicted of her killing; two were hanged, and the third was transported. As Christina’s body was dragged from the water, her blood ran down a flight of sandstone steps leading from the canal, and it is said that the stain occasionally reappears on those stones. From our base at Springwood Haven on the Coventry Canal, it takes around 16 hours to reach Brindley Bank. The route travels 33 miles and passes through 16 locks.
8. Look out for the ghost of a Roman Centurian in Chester
At the City’s old Northgate, where the canal was dug into part of the town’s moat, a Roman centurion can sometimes be seen guarding the entrance to the City. From our base on the Shropshire Union Canal at Brewood, it takes around 26 hours to cruise to Northgate Staircase Locks in Chester. The journey travels 52 miles and passes through 39 locks.
All aboard for an Autumn canal boat holiday
A canal boat holiday is a great way to enjoy the splendid colours of autumn in the hedgerows and trees that line our waterways.
Narrowboats are like floating holiday cottages, with everything holiday-makers need on board for a self-catering adventure afloat.
Autumn 2022 hire prices start at £561 for a short break (three or four nights) on a boat for four people, £865 for a week.
Here’s a guide to Drifters’ top seven canal boat holiday destinations for Autumn 2022:
1. Potter through the Shropshire countryside to Market Drayton
From our canal boat hire base at Autherley on the Shropshire Union Canal, it takes around 12 hours to reach the historic market town of Market Drayton, home of the gingerbread man. Along the way, you’ll pass through 26 miles of beautiful Shropshire countryside, seven locks, and a series of wooded canal cuttings, now havens for wildlife. The route passes through the historic villages of Brewood, Wheaton Aston and Gnosall. And a series of canalside pubs, including the Junction Inn at Norbury and the Hartley Arms at Wheaton Aston. There are nature reserves to visit at Wheaton Aston (Mottey Meadows), Norbury (Loynton Moss), and Brewood (Belvide Reservoir). The journey to Market Harborough and back takes around 24 hours, perfect for a relaxed week away.
2. Visit Georgian Bath afloat
On a four-night mid-week break from our Devizes base on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire, you can travel to the World Heritage Status City of Bath and back. The journey to Sydney Wharf takes around 10 hours, travelling across two magnificent aqueducts and passing through 10 locks. There’s a choice of canalside pubs, including the Barge Inn at Seend and the Cross Guns at Avoncliff. There are moorings a short walk from Bath City Centre at Sydney Wharf.
3. Explore Skipton and its medieval castle
On a short break from our Barnoldswick base, you can head east along he Leeds & Liverpool Canal to Skipton. The journey there and back travels 26 miles, passes through 30 locks (15 each way) and takes around 20 cruising hours. This breath-taking route winds along the contours of the side of Airedale. There are extensive views of sheep country – farmhouses, barns, stone walls and the occasional village or town. Once in Skipton, you can moor in the centre of the town, visit shops and restaurants and explore the 900-year old Skipton Castle.
4. Cruise to Manchester
On a week’s break from our narrowboat hire base at Acton Bridge, you can cruise to Manchester and back. The route, which passes through a mixture of urban and rural landscapes, travels 68 miles of waterway (34 each way) and passes through just one lock. Places to stop off at along the way, include Stockton Heath, with a choice of shops, boutiques, restaurants and pubs, and the historic village of Lymm. On arrival in Manchester, there are places to moor at Castlefield Basin, within easy reach of City Centre attractions. And to visit the Trafford Centre, you can return via Worsley on the Bridgewater Canal.
5. Travel along the Stratford Canal to Stratford upon Avon
From our base at Wootton Wawen on the Stratford Canal, it’s a picturesque seven-hour cruise to Stratford upon Avon. The route, which is perfect for a short break, passes through 17 locks. Along the way, you’ll cruise through the Warwickshire countryside, with plenty of hedgerow foraging opportunities along the way. Once at the birthplace of the Bard, there are over-night moorings in Bancroft Basin. This is perfect to use as a base to explore the town’s many independent shops, restaurants, theatres and museums.
6. Glide across The Stream in the Sky
On a week’s break from our canal boat rental base at Wrenbury Mill on the Llangollen Canal in Shropshire, you can cruise through the Shropshire Lake District to the pretty town of Llangollen. The journey takes 19 hours, passes through 12 locks and two tunnels. It crosses the magnificent World Heritage Status Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, also known as ‘The Stream in the Sky’, with amazing views across the Dee Valley and the Welsh Mountains.
7. Cruise through the Scottish lowlands to Ratho
From our base at the Falkirk Wheel boat lift, it’s a peaceful eight-hour cruise along the Union Canal to the historic village of Ratho. The route to Ratho travels 24 miles, passes through three locks, two tunnels and over two aqueducts. It also passes close to the historic town of Linlithgow, home to the ruins of Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.
Prima, 1 August 2022
‘Plan it, book it, love it’ Cruise through the Scottish lowlands
The Times, 11 August 2022
‘25 of the best boating holidays in Europe’ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/25-of-the-best-boating-holidays-in-europe-665r2lzn8